


Underqualified Teen On Babysitting Duty — The Short Story

by Current521



Series: Starkid Writes [14]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Babysitting, Background Relationships, I love ethan ok he's my boy, Weed mention, him and hanna are so good, less-than-ideal babysitting practice but you know life, sort of less-than-ideal handling of a nonverbal child but it's ok he's nice about it, starkid writes, starkid writes discord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 11:14:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21337330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Current521/pseuds/Current521
Summary: Lex can't find a babysitter, so she leaves Hanna with Ethan. They have a good day, overall.
Relationships: Ethan Green/Lex Foster
Series: Starkid Writes [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1462579
Comments: 24
Kudos: 212





	Underqualified Teen On Babysitting Duty — The Short Story

**Author's Note:**

> So the prompt this week was "thanks" and I had another idea, but then Black Friday digital release came out, and I got entirely obsessed with Ethan Green (my tumblr is somewhere-thats-ethan-green at the moment and I highly support myself for this choice, even if I like the consistency of current521) so here you go, I've watched the show twice, today, and it's good

Ethan's phone rang; Lex. He picked up immediately. "Hey babe."

"Ethan hi, can you do me a favour? I know it's a lot to ask, but I can't get a hold of Grace, and I don't wanna leave Hannah alone with mom—"

"I'll take her." Ethan checked his watch. "Do you need me to pick her up?" His parents wouldn't be home for another seven hours at least, and Lex usually didn't work more than five on Saturdays; it would be fine to bring her home, no need to hang out at the mall or anything.

"No, I'll drop her off on my way to work." Lex sounded out of breath. "Thank you so much, Ethan."

"Anytime, babe." He hung up. Time to tidy up a bit, lock the weed away; he liked Hannah, he didn't want to be a bad influence. Not to mention, Lex would kill him if Hannah knew he smoked weed. And he needed to put it away before his parents came home, anyway.

Lex dropped Hannah off with a, "Be good for Ethan," a thank you, and a kiss.

"Alright then, Banana." Ethan smiled at Hannah. "How are you?"

She shook her head and didn't answer. She stood in the entrance, shaking slightly.

Ethan sighed. "Come on." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her along to the living room. "Come on, do I gotta put a leash on you? Take your jacket off, and your shoes."

At least she complied. He gently sat her down on the couch and went to put her overclothes in the hall. When he came back, she was still sitting there, rocking back and forth. "Bad day, Banana Split?" He sat next to her. "That's alright, you don't have to talk if you don't want to. Is there anything you need?"

She didn't answer, just started tapping her knee. Three taps, break, three taps.

"Hey, how about that." He pointed at her hand. "Two taps for yes, three taps for no, alright? Can you do that?" Two taps. "That's good. Do you want water?" Three taps. "Chocolate?" A long pause, then another three taps. "That's good, I'd have to steal my parents' chocolate then. Do you want me to leave you alone?" Three taps. "Hmm… Do you wanna watch a movie?" Two taps. "Nice! What should we watch?" One tap, which he interpreted to mean that she couldn’t give an answer. "I know, I know. Look, here's the shelf." He showed it to her, getting up from the couch and opening the cabinet. "Pick a movie. Any movie."

She got up and knelt down in front of the shelf, running her fingers over the DVDs. She went back and forth a few times; Ethan forced himself to be patient. They weren’t busy, he reminded himself, and she always took her time. Eventually, she held up a movie.

Ethan took it. " _ Star Wars _ ? And it's episode IV? Really?" She shrugged and smiled. "Alright, we'll watch it."

Hannah wrapped her arm around Ethan in a quick hug. He hugged her back, slightly surprised, and went to start the movie.

They watched the movie in silence. Ethan mostly watched Hannah, though; she looked like she was about to laugh a few times, but still no sound. She never said a word. But she seemed more at ease than she had before, and she looked up at him a few times and smiled.

A few more movies, some lunch, and an ice cream later, Lex came to pick up Hannah. Hannah, who was covered in ice cream, when Ethan knew full well that she wasn't supposed to have sugar, he suddenly remembered.

"What's that?" Lex looked at Hannah. "What did you eat?" Hannah just smiled, so Lex looked at Ethan. "What did she eat?"

He scratched his head and smiled. "It's just a bit of ice cream. Not very much!"

"Ethan!" Lex let go of Hannah to slap Ethan lightly on the shoulder. "You know she's not supposed to have sugar! What am I gonna tell mom?"

"I'll fix it. Come here, Banana." Ethan reached a hand out, and Hannah took it. He dragged her to the kitchen, grabbed a cloth, wet it, and wiped her face. Which he should've done before Lex came back. "There you go, Banana Split." He smiled, and they walked back to the hall where Lex was still waiting.

"Alright, we gotta go." Lex walked over to Ethan. "Bye. Thank you so much." She kissed him.

"Anytime, babe." He kissed her again. Then he knelt down to Hannah's level. "You be good, alright? See you soon, Banana Split." He patted her head.

Lex and Hannah left, and Ethan turned to get the kitchen tidied up before his parents returned.

He'd barely taken four steps before he heard the pitter-patter of Hannah's footsteps running back. He turned around just in time to catch her into a hug.

"Thanks Ethan," she whispered.

He didn't know what she was thanking him for, but it was the first time she'd spoken all day, so he hugged her even tighter.

Three days later, Lex told him that that was the only thing she'd said all week. 


End file.
